FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
Jeff Muir
Blount Partnership
(865) 983.2241
Jennifer Wiggins
AkinsCrisp Public Strategies
(865) 680.1457
Tennessee’s Foothills Parkway: Gateway to Beauty
BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. – For those looking for a scenic drive in East Tennessee, the Foothills Parkway offers an opportunity to experience unparalleled views and picturesque vistas into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
The two-lane parkway was intended to serve as the Tennessee version of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which runs from Virginia to North Carolina. When complete, the Foothills Parkway will run from Interstate 40 in Cosby, to highway 129 near Chilhowee Lake. In addition to being a scenic route, the road was also designed to relieve tourist traffic in the area.
“The advantage of traveling up the parkway is that it offers a panoramic view of the park,” said Tami Vater, director of Tourism for the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority. “The area isn’t as visited as other areas in the park, so it’s a nice peaceful ride up the mountain.”
The parkway extends 18 miles up Chilhowee Mountain. Pull-offs along the way to the mountain’s crest give a glimpse of the panoramic view from the top. The high point of the mountain is Look Rock, a natural observation ledge. To the east of the rock are the Smoky Mountains, and to the west are smooth flatlands.
The observation trail is a one-half mile trail that is located 9.6 miles from the beginning of the parkway. It takes hikers on a tour of the mountains’ picturesque magnificence. The trail is rated as easy hiking so most travelers can experience the scenery while taking in the fresh mountain air.
“Chilhowee has over 30 miles of continuous ridge,” said Vater. “On a clear day, you can see up to 22 miles away to Clingman’s Dome, the highest dome in the park.”
Foothills Parkway is located off Highway 321, just west of Townsend. Signs on the Foothills Parkway indicate the mountain’s picnic area and campground and Look Rock.
Although magnificent, the parkway remains a work in progress. The Foothills Parkway is the state’s oldest unfinished highway project. Congress authorized the project in 1944, and construction began in the 1960s. But, the project has been slow going due to lack of physical and monetary support. Several events, including rockslides and the Vietnam War kept this piece of the parkway from ever being completed, and only sections of the 72-mile road have been completed.
While the road isn’t complete, visitors still travel the open sections of the parkway to experience its unmatched beauty and breathtaking views.
About Blount County, Tennessee
Blount County, Tennessee is located just south of Knoxville at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The communities that make up Blount County—Townsend, Maryville, Alcoa, Friendsville, Louisville and Rockford – provide visitors with an abundance of outdoor activities, attractions and regular celebrations of the region’s rich Appalachian heritage and culture. Blount County is also home to the nation’s most visited national park—the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
For more information about Blount County, please contact the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority at (800) 525.6834 or visit www.SmokyMountains.org. Follow the Smoky Mountain Tourism Development Authority at www.Facebook.com/PeacefulSide and Twitter.com/PeacefulSmokies.
If you are in the area, please stop in to the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center at Townsend, located at 7906 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, or the Smoky Mountain Visitors Center at Maryville, located at 201 South Washington Street, for more information. (January 2013)
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